Bonjour Y'all!
I've been reading you for a while. Got myself a profile a few months ago. And today, I decided it was time to step out of the closet. I did get a lot of really good info and ideas along your threads, and now I will post my own experience, as it might help someone else in turn.
To start, let me tell you that I am French, born and raised in Paris. I'm Air Force active duty and got a 3 years tour in the US (Hurlburt Field). So the family and I moved to NW Florida almost 2 years ago. We enjoy ourselves there.. People are crazy, but so friendly as well!!
I bought the car (9F02H222550) in 1995, with my very first pay checks as a young LT: $5,000... Found it in Switzerland. It's a DSO 44 (Twin Cities), so not a real export. Drove it like I stole it for almost 15 years. It was my daily driver. Almost 80,000 miles... Did a lot of stuff on it, to it keep safe and fast. But mostly kept it original. As all 69 GTs, I believe, it came with a 351W-2V and a 3:00 in the rear. It has the GT package, obviously and powered front disc brakes. Period. Manual transmission (Toploader 4), manual steering, and no AC. A real car for real men!!
Because I drove it in all kind of weathers (rain, ice, snow, etc.), I started to get concerned about some rust points showing here and there on the body.
And one morning, I received my orders for Florida. Told my wife car was coming. And it did. We brought it back here, to its homeland. You need to realize what an accomplishment it was for me to be able to drive my beloved Stang here. And to make sure it would be a memorable tour, I decided to restore it while we're here. A frame up type of restoration, sand blasting, rotisserie, the whole shebang! I started taking it apart a year ago. It should be painted within the end of this week. And goal is to drive it north to Charlotte NC for the 50th Anniversary. We'll see.
As I was stripping it down, I realized it is all matching. Engine and tranny. I will post some of my pics here, on this thread.
And I almost forgot: Merry Christmas!
